NHS trust puts out tender for electronic patient records system

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust seeks a care records system and e-prescribing functionality

NHS Trust puts out tender for e-prescribing system

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has put out a tender for a care records system and e-prescribing functionality.

A tender notice has been placed in the Official Journal of the European Union for an “integrated care record system capable of interfacing with the contracting authorities' ICT products and systems, in a series of phases.”

In the tender, the Trust says that it expects the first phase to include order communications, results reporting and documentation to support patient discharge,
incorporating take out medications.

It envisages that the second phase will incorporate electronic drug management including e-prescribing and drug administration for patient care.

Talking about the anticipated timescales for bids, a spokesperson for the Trust said: "Currently, award is estimated as March subject to several milestone checkpoints, the next one being November. The Trust is exploring several options for timescales."

The tender went out before today's announcement from the Department of Health (DoH) about the future of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). The spokeperson said that it had not been necessary to wait for the announcement before releasing the tender.

"The Trust has been holding detailed discussions on this agenda for several months. The Trust Board gave agreement to proceed in March 2010 and the tendering process actually began in June/July of this year," she said.